1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to separating devices for agricultural products. More specifically, the present invention relates to devices which are used to separate clusters of pod vegetables joined together by stem sections from a large quantity of pod vegetables.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Vegetable pod cluster separators, breakers and cutters are well known and have various different types of designs. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,131,062 to Kumandan and 3,405,750 to Weirauch disclose using forks, hooks or slotted peripheral annular disks within a drum to catch and carry vegetable pod clusters to a blade, sickle cutter, or comb which cuts or breaks the pods away from the stems. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,743,240 to Ryder, 3,059,648 to Burton, and 3,645,271 to Arve, et al. disclose using pins or lifting vanes within a rotating drum to catch and lift clusters upwardly within the drum to where they are dropped on a conveyor which removes the clusters from the drum, or onto cross bars which are chain driven or wires which carry the clusters to a sickle cutter which cuts the pods away from the stems.
Another type of device for separating and trimming clusters of beans from their stems is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,412,736 to Olney. The device disclosed includes first and second separating zones and belt mounted hooked rods which extend into the zones and move downwardly through the zones to catch the clusters by their stems as they fall. The rods carry the clusters downwardly to sickle cutters which cut the pods from their stems. A blower separates the stems and leaves from the pods.
A "piggyback" two drum cluster cutter has been built which includes two drums, one mounted vertically over the other, wherein each drum has hooked rods extending out from its cylindrical surface into the restricted zone through which the vegetable pods and clusters fall. As they fall through the restricted zone they encounter two separate sets of hooked rods, one set after another. In this cluster cutter, each drum rotates so that the hooked rods move downwardly with any clusters that are caught, and then outwardly to a sickle cutter which cuts the vegetable pods from the cluster stems. The cut vegetable pods eventually drop below, out of the restricted zone. Those clusters which are missed by the hooked rods on the upper drum often are caught by the hooked rods on the lower drum. A modified Olney device has been developed in which the second separating device has been replaced by a drum-type cluster separator and cutter similar to one of the two drums and sickle cutters of the above-described "piggyback" apparatus.
The prior art demonstrates that doubling of the number of locations where separation of clusters occurs, such as in the Olney device, the "piggyback" cluster cutter, and the modified Olney device, may result in increased capacity and efficiency. Since such a device will have a "second chance" at removing clusters, the vegetable pods may be fed into the device at a rate greater than the rate at which substantially all the clusters are removed at the first location. It is desirable, however, to be able to accomplish the cluster separation at an even more effective rate and within a more compact and limited space which cannot accomodate multiple separation locations. While theoretically this could be accomplished by increasing the density of the array of hooked rods on a drum, in practice it has been found that optimal hook spacing limits the density of the hooked rods on a drum to prevent clusters and separated vegetable pods from "bridging" adjacent hooks. Such "bridging" results in single vegetable pods being separated and cut with the clusters, and cluster portions remaining on the closely adjacent hooks even after cutting. In addition, an overly dense hooked rod array can cause the drum to deliver such a large number of clusters and pods to the sickle cutter that the cutter might jam or be subject to excessive wear.